A bluegrass band at their core, North Carolina quintet Steep Canyon Rangers have become a festival favorite. Danceable as the most progressive, party-oriented string band, the band has been backing banjo front man Steven Martin on tour for years, earning a 2013 Grammy win for Best Bluegrass Album, Nobody Knows You.

"True bluegrass, when done well, is a thing of art and the Steep Canyon Rangers are the genre’s current Rembrandt.” –Examiner

Special Guest Noam Pikelny: Noam Pikelny has emerged as the preeminent banjoist of his generation, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “pros’ top banjo picker,” Noam is a founding member of Punch Brothers, a string ensemble which the Boston Globe calls “a virtuosic revelation” and the New Yorker describes as “wide-ranging and restlessly imaginative.” In September of 2010, Pikelny was awarded the first annual Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. Pikelny is a 3-time Grammy Award Nominee and his record, Noam Pikelny Plays Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe, was described by the New York Times as "a token of reverence, a feat of translation and a show of dominion”. The album is widely considered a landmark recording in acoustic music, and was named “Album of the Year” at the 2014 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. Noam will release his next album, the purely solo endeavor, Universal Favorite, on Rounder Records in March 2017.